Moms rate their favorite apps

Think fast: What's the first thing you do in the morning? If you're like many people, you reach for your mobile phone or tablet to review emails, check in with friends or play your latest game obsession. And these days, you can find an app for just about anything whether it's to help simplify your life, educate your kids or provide a little down time and fun for yourself. To help you get the most out of your mobile phones and tablets, I reached out to a few mom groups -- North Shore Mamas, Dear Milo, NY Moms World, Mocha Moms and MBA Moms to find out their favorite, go-to apps for kids and adults alike. Here's a round-up of moms' must-have apps. -- Compiled by Jennifer Berger

"The Pinterest App definitely has me addicted. It's the perfect app for organizing my entire life in every category from recipes, to how I want to redecorate my home, new clothes to buy, toys for my son -- I could go on and on and on! It keeps me occupied for hours. Come take a look @SusanUrsoKing."-Susan Urso King, Massapequa, mother of one

"What I love about this app is that you leave your phone on in the room where the baby is sleeping and it acts like a baby monitor. You program another phone number into the app (for example, your home phone number) so when the baby wakes up and makes noise, the other phone receives a text or it rings. You can also set the sensitivity level for when it will call the other number."-Tiffany Macartney, of East Northport, a mother of two boys

"A working mom with twin girls under 1 equals a busy life and it can be hard to find time to work out. That's when I turn to Stacy's Bootcamp app to get my workouts in. So, while the babies are napping, I can pull up one of her basic workouts to keep me in shape. Also, when I'm traveling with my job, I love being able to have a program to follow that keeps me in shape while I'm away. The exercise library explains every workout move in detail, so I know I'm doing the exercise correctly."- Jacqueline Hetherington, of Manhattan, a mother of twins

"One of my favorite apps is Cardbank. It manages all of your store reward cards, gym membership cards, library cards, and so on. This way you can get rid of all the small cards you carried on your key chain!"- Stephanie, of Smithtown, a mother of 2-year-old twins

"The app from Chase bank lets you take a photo of a check with the phone and it makes the deposit from the photo. That is just insanely cool. It's like we are living a futuristic sci-fi novel from the 80's, right?"-Vera Mendizabal, of Huntington, mother of two boys

"My children’s latest App obsession, you use ingredients to make a recipe for cookies, roll your dough, shape & bake your cookie, and then get to decorate it. Hey, whatever works and whatever keeps them entertained!"-Jessica Grant, of Plainview, mother of three

"You click on the barcode when out food shopping and it tells you the nutritional information on the food. It also gives it a letter grade and offers better choices!"-Amy Endler, of East Northport, mother of two girls

"I love taking pictures and editing them and I love getting feedback from others. I also learn new techniques from everyone's photos as well. It's a nice way to escape real life responsibilities for a while."-Melissa Kessler, of Plainview, mother of two boys

"That's easy, the one for our Mastic-Moriches-Shirley Community Library. They offer lots of free programs and you can reserve spots for them online. All you need is a library card number. Very convenient when you work as much as I do and spend more time on the pocket PC than the home PC."-Patricia Hayward, North Babylon

"I personally discovered that YouTube has organizing videos which I desperately need right now in order to keep my family room clutter-free of all the kid's toys and the little parts that come in the packages. Both the amateur and professional videos are really helpful."-Kimberly Thomas, Valley Stream, mother of two

"I use the Pandora internet radio app every night to help my son fall asleep. You can create any playlist you want by clicking on "new station" and entering the genre or artist you want. I mostly use Lullaby themes, but Milo is an Israel 'IZ' Kamakawiwo'ole fan so I also created a station based on his name. It doesn't only find IZ songs, but finds IZ and similar sounding songs."-Nancy Lin, of Jericho, mother of one

"My son can't get enough of Peek-a-Zoo by Duck Duck Moose. It's a great learning app for my little one and a pretty good distraction for him when Mommy needs a time-out!"-Susan Urso King, of Massapequa, mother of one

"My life has been forever changed by this App. Search for apparel and homewares by color, price, size and more. Nearly every department store and boutique is represented, from Amazon.com to Bergdorf Goodman."-Jessica Grant, of Plainview, mother of three

"My favorite app is am upgrade to the calendar that came standard with my iPhone 4s, but it has simplified my life! I have four kids so my calendar used to be a mess but now I always have my plans with me at all times. It allows me to see everything I have scheduled as if I'd written it on a paper calendar, an agenda option so I can see my week at a glance, color codes events based on the the name of my husband and kids and reminds me of birthdays. It's become the way my husband and I communicate about important school events or parties -- I can invite him to see my calendar on his phone, too!"-Ali Kyler-Wank, Jericho, mother of four